Garden Grove – Voice of OChttps://voiceofoc.org
Orange County's nonprofit newsroomWed, 21 Feb 2018 23:27:43 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.4Democratic Congressional Candidates Fail to Get Endorsement Recommendations in Four Key OC Raceshttps://voiceofoc.org/2018/01/democratic-congressional-candidates-fail-to-get-endorsement-recommendations-in-four-key-oc-races/
https://voiceofoc.org/2018/01/democratic-congressional-candidates-fail-to-get-endorsement-recommendations-in-four-key-oc-races/#commentsWed, 31 Jan 2018 12:44:32 +0000https://voiceofoc.org/?p=463314Orange County’s four Republican-held Congressional Districts that are targeted by the national Democratic Party failed to get clear Democratic endorsement recommendations for any of the numerous candidates, leaving it to next month’s state convention to help narrow the field of candidates heading into the June primaries.

“We can’t tell somebody, ‘don’t run, get out,’” said Orange County Democratic Party Chairwoman Fran Sdao, who said this year’s pre-endorsement conference was more challenging than previous years because of the number of Democratic candidates in each of the four districts.

Candidates had to receive the backing of 70 percent of the conference votes to win a recommendation. In districts where at least one candidate received more than 50 percent but less than 70 percent of the votes, it’s up to the state convention to choose who to endorse. Districts where none of the candidates received 50 percent of the votes won’t have any candidate endorsed by the state party.

The state convention in San Diego next month will have to consider all of the candidates from three of the four Orange County congressional districts. Only one Orange County district, the 39th in north county, failed to have any of its candidates receive more than 50 percent of the votes and advance to the state convention. That means none of the eight Democratic candidates in that district will receive an endorsement from the California Democratic Party.

“It’s dead. It doesn’t come to the floor in convention, it doesn’t go anywhere. So none of those candidates will be able to put the logo (on campaign material) that says they’re endorsed by the state party,” Sdao said in a Tuesday phone interview.

Only three of the state’s 53 Congressional Districts, including the 39th, will not be considered for endorsements at the state convention.

Rep. Ed Royce (R-Fullerton), who is the 39th’s longtime incumbent, announced earlier this month he will not seek reelection. The 39th district consists of the most northern portion of Orange County from parts of Buena Park, Placentia and Anaheim Hills and contains all of Yorba Linda, Brea, La Habra and Fullerton while reaching north to parts of neighboring Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties.

Nationwide, Democrats in November need to win 24 congressional seats now held by Republicans to gain control of the House.

NORBERTO SANTANA, JR., Voice of OC

Democratic delegates vote in regional endorsement caucus on Jan. 28 at the San Juan Capistrano Community Center.

On Saturday Jan. 27, Democratic club representatives, central committee members, county party members and delegates met in what’s known as pre-endorsement conferences to vote on endorsement recommendations for the 45th, 48th and 49th districts. Those recommendations usually mean a state endorsement.

Since no one garnered enough votes for a recommendation in any of the three districts, all candidates still will be fighting for an endorsement at the state convention next month. Delegates will have to decide on an endorsement for one candidate per district.

Only five Congressional Districts statewide failed to garner the 70 percent endorsement recommendations for a candidate, leaving it up to the convention delegates to decide on endorsements.

“All those candidates names will be back in play during the caucus meeting,” Sdao said, who made clear that even without the endorsements, the candidates still can run. “We don’t want that to happen, but it may happen.”

California uses a top-two primary system, meaning the top two vote-getters in the June primary will advance to November’s general election, regardless of political party.

NORBERTO SANTANA, JR., Voice of OC

Democratic volunteers work to count votes in regional endorsement caucus on Jan. 28 at the San Juan Capistrano Community Center.

The Democrats fear their voters could be splintered because of the large number of candidates in each field, which could allow two Republicans to advance to November’s ballot. There are eight Democratic candidates so far in the central OC 45th district, eight in the coastal 48th and five in the south county 49th.

“The worst thing that can happen is the Republicans make it in the top two,” Sdao said.

The same week Royce made his abrupt announcement, Congressman Darrell Issa (R-Vista) announced he also won’t be seeking reelection. Issa represents the 49th District, which touches the most southern cities in the county, including San Juan Capistrano, Dana Point and San Clemente. The 49th stretches down the west side of San Diego county, ending before La Jolla. The district also houses Camp Pendleton.

Following on the heels of Royce and Issa’s announcements, a number of Republicans announced their candidacies. For the 39th, Orange County Supervisor Shawn Nelson, former Assemblywoman Young Kim and former State Senate Minority Leader Bob Huff announced their candidacies.

Since the Democrats won’t ask a candidate to drop out of the race, Sdao said they’ll try to get them to see the bigger picture.

“All we can do is appeal to their sense of doing the right thing and that these races … are amongst the most important races ever. This is more than just about a person, this is more than just about Orange County. This is about the United States of America,” Sdao said.

She said candidates will need to ask themselves if they have a true shot of winning or not, so the Democratic vote isn’t splintered in the four competitive districts.

“You have to take the high road and ask if your campaign is truly viable. And what we are risking by having candidates who don’t have a clear viable path stay in the race.”

Spencer Custodio is a Voice of OC reporter who covers south Orange County and Fullerton. You can reach him at scustodio@voiceofoc.org.

]]>https://voiceofoc.org/2018/01/democratic-congressional-candidates-fail-to-get-endorsement-recommendations-in-four-key-oc-races/feed/2Report: Asian Americans, Now One Fifth of OC’s Population, Are More Complex Than You Thinkhttps://voiceofoc.org/2018/01/report-asian-americans-now-one-fifth-of-ocs-population-are-more-complex-than-you-think/
https://voiceofoc.org/2018/01/report-asian-americans-now-one-fifth-of-ocs-population-are-more-complex-than-you-think/#commentsMon, 29 Jan 2018 15:01:28 +0000https://voiceofoc.org/?p=461946Nearly one in five Orange County residents now is Asian American, the fastest growing racial group in the county.

But many leaders in politics, business and the nonprofit world don’t understand how diverse and complex the Asian community is, according to a report by the University of California, Irvine and the advocacy group Asian Americans Advancing Justice.

The report, “Transforming Orange County,” consists of interviews with twenty Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander leaders countywide and highlights the barriers faced by different Asian subgroups when it comes to issues like housing, health care, and education.

“Orange County is really culturally, socially, politically, the future of California and America,” said Karin Wang, vice president of programs and communications for Advancing Justice, which is based in Los Angeles. “The changes happening here are showing the rest of the country what’s happening.”

Of the 600,000 Asian Americans in Orange County, Vietnamese and Korean Americans are the first and second largest ethnic subgroups, with large concentrations of Vietnamese in Garden Grove and Westminster, and Korean Americans in cities like Buena Park and Fullerton. There are more than 200,000 Vietnamese in Orange County and 94,000 Korean Americans, according to 2010 U.S. Census figures.

Other large populations reside in Orange County but lack visibility because they aren’t concentrated in one place, according to the report, such as the nearly 89,000 Filipino Americans that make up the third largest Asian subgroup in the county.

And within any individual ethnic group, there are generational and migration differences. Chinese Americans in Orange County range from recent immigrants to those whose family first immigrated five generations ago. They might come from mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong or be immigrants from Southeast Asian countries like Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia and Singapore, according to the report.

According to the report, many groups, like Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders (NHPI), aren’t recognized in demographic statistics, which often lump them into a broad “other” category. While they make up less than one percent of the county’s total population, Orange County has the fifth largest NHPI population in California.

The sheer number of Asian American ethnicities, and the cultural, political and linguistic differences that come with each group, often pose a challenge for leaders trying to organize their community or provide services, from health care to translators for elections.

The report recommends that more organizations collect disaggregated data on Asian Americans rather than lumping groups into broad categories.

Health care is a particular concern. While many Asian Americans are going into the medical profession, for smaller groups it can be difficult to find a health professional or certified translator who speaks the same language.

Groups like Vietnamese, Cambodian and Laotian Americans also face higher rates of mental illness because of their trauma from war and displacement as refugees.

For example, in Orange County there currently is only one Khmer-speaking medical provider and physician assistant and no Khmer-speaking mental health providers for a population of 7,471 Cambodian Americans, according to the report.

Jane Pang, a program manager with the Pacific Islander Health Partnership, noted in the report that Pacific Islanders often lack translations for basic health care literature about cancer and obesity, diseases that heavily affect the community.

The report calls on health career programs to expand outreach and create a career pipeline for underrepresented Asian communities.

“Some people say there are so many Asians in college - you have no needs,” said Mary Anne Foo, the executive director of the Orange County Asian and Pacific Islander Community Alliance, or OCAPICA.

While 12 percent of Asian Americans in Orange County live in poverty – lower than the 13 percent for the general population – certain ethnicities face higher rates of poverty. Twenty percent of Thai Americans, 16 percent of Vietnamese Americans and 15 percent of Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders live below the poverty line.

The report also notes that while Asian Americans are a growing force in local politics, Asian Americans only represent 14 percent of the county’s voters despite potentially representing 20 percent.

Voter outreach tends to target larger ethic groups like Vietnamese, Korean and Chinese Americans, passing over smaller groups where rates of limited English proficiency are higher.

Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders also tend not to identify strongly with either major political party, with 35 percent registered as Republican, 27 percent Democrat and 34 percent Independent.

The report calls on political parties and other voter education groups to conduct outreach in more languages, and target more nonpartisan voters, since many Asian Americans are unaffiliated with any party.

Community leaders interviewed for the report noted that Asian American voters don’t necessarily see themselves as a cohesive political unit.

Cyril Yu, a senior deputy district attorney and a board member of the South Coast Chinese Cultural Association, said in cities like Irvine, different Asian ethnicities don’t always vote for one another.

Within Irvine’s Chinese community, for example, there are political differences between recent immigrants, who tend to have established wealth from China, and previous immigrants from Taiwan who migrated to improve their education.

“And so it’s not that easy to say we’re all on the same page as the community because politically we’re not,” Yu said in the report. “There are people who see the world very differently than the other side.”

]]>https://voiceofoc.org/2018/01/report-asian-americans-now-one-fifth-of-ocs-population-are-more-complex-than-you-think/feed/3Transportation Officials Debate Bus or Streetcar Service for Harbor Boulevardhttps://voiceofoc.org/2018/01/transportation-officials-debate-bus-or-streetcar-service-for-harbor-boulevard/
https://voiceofoc.org/2018/01/transportation-officials-debate-bus-or-streetcar-service-for-harbor-boulevard/#commentsMon, 22 Jan 2018 14:34:34 +0000https://voiceofoc.org/?p=457806Increased bus service and new streetcar routes are on the table as Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) officials study options for one of the county’s busiest bus corridors, Harbor Boulevard.

The $640,000 report, prepared by STV Inc. and four other subcontractors, has its limitations. It is assumed in the study that all of the project options would take place without widening Harbor Boulevard and the study does not look at impacts on existing traffic.

Darrell Johnson, the agency’s CEO, said the ridership projections are not “investment-grade” studies.

“This is a conceptual level [analysis],” Johnson said.

The final draft of the Central Harbor Corridor study, as presented to OCTA board directors last week, compares twelve different options for bus and streetcar routes on or adjacent to Harbor Boulevard. Of those options, three streetcar routes and two bus rapid transit routes (a faster bus service where the bus travels in its own dedicated lane) were ranked in the top five.

Harbor Rapid Streetcar: with a total score of 74, this option received the highest rating in the Harbor study. This route is the only proposed streetcar option with a dedicated lane. This option ranked highest in terms of transit performance, connectivity and user experience.

Tied for second place is the Harbor Long Streetcar and Harbor Bus Rapid Transit with a score of 73 points. While the Harbor BRT option operates in its own lane, the Harbor Long Streetcar travels with traffic. The Harbor BRT ranks highest of all options for cost effectiveness.

Anaheim-Lemon Streetcar: this streetcar route, with a score of 68, would begin on Lemon Street near the Fullerton Transportation Center and continue onto Anaheim Boulevard. It shares a lane with traffic.

Anaheim-Lemon Bus Rapid Transit: this option follows the same route as the Anaheim-Lemon streetcar, but has a bus with its own dedicated lane.

After OCTA gathers feedback from the four cities along the corridor, the report will come back before the board for them to decide whether to select any of the proposed projects for further study.

For the past two years, transportation officials have studied an eight-mile stretch of Harbor Boulevard from Fullerton on the north, through Anaheim and ending in Garden Grove. That corridor is home to the county’s largest employer, Disneyland, and sees an average 12,800 bus boardings a day, 12 percent of the county’s total.

Officials are projecting a growth in housing and hotel rooms along the corridor, with 4,551 planned housing units (mostly in Anaheim) and 5,378 new hotel rooms in Anaheim and Garden Grove.

With an expected increase in housing density along Harbor Boulevard, officials say there is a opportunity to grow transit use along Harbor. They also want to bolster regional transportation by connecting new projects on Harbor to the OC Streetcar, which is slated to begin construction later this year.

Bus rapid transit, which often is praised by transportation advocates as having the advantages of light rail without the costly infrastructure, received the highest score for cost effectiveness. Among the top five options, the Harbor Rapid Streetcar costs the most at an estimated $690 million in capital costs while Harbor Bus Rapid Transit costs $230 million.

The Harbor Rapid Streetcar, meanwhile, has the highest estimated weekday boardings at 15,200, compared with 14,700 for the Harbor Long Streetcar and 14,600 for Harbor Bus Rapid Transit. The Anaheim-Lemon Streetcar would see an estimated 11,300 boardings and the Anaheim-Lemon BRT would see 12,000 boardings, according to the estimates.

Anaheim Mayor Tom Tait, who has consistently opposed streetcar projects citing their relatively high cost compared to bus service, questioned the evaluation metrics used in the report. He pointed to the large difference in scores between the top-ranked streetcar and the lowest ranking option, enhanced bus.

“When you look at travel speeds, enhanced bus goes at 16.4 mph and the streetcar goes at 14.2,” Tait said. “Enhanced bus is much faster.”

Enhanced bus is the option with the fewest features, making it the cheapest to implement. It’s similar to regular bus service except for features like priority at intersections and the option to pay fares before boarding the bus.

“I don’t understand why the bus would rate so low. I think the analysis is flawed,” Tait said.

Tait also questioned why the Harbor study includes analysis of streetcars when most of the corridor runs through the city of Anaheim.

“I can’t imagine a scenario, why we’d waste time and money going forward when you have a major city saying we don’t want a streetcar. There’s going to be a congestion issue,” said Tait. “We want something that will make it better, not worse.”

The Anaheim City Council, at one point, was a strong advocate for a $300 million streetcar project that would have connected the city’s transit hub to its resort district.

When political winds shifted last year, the current council, led by Tait, voted to oppose the development of any kind of streetcar down Harbor Boulevard. OCTA also voted to stop any work on the project.

Johnson said that OCTA staff has not, at this time, singled out any of the twelve options. Instead, they are waiting to hear feedback from Fullerton, Garden Grove, Anaheim and Santa Ana.

Responding to Tait’s comment that the streetcar would increase traffic, Johnson noted the bus alternatives face similar obstacles. Both the rapid streetcar and bus rapid transit alternatives, for example, would require closing a lane to traffic.

OCTA director and county supervisor Shawn Nelson told Tait the Harbor study was in part a response to the controversy surrounding the Anaheim streetcar proposal.

“The reason we’re having this discussion is exactly because we realize local politics can really do harm to some of these local transit projects,” said Nelson. “This is just a study. I don’t know what’s going to happen with Anaheim politics but part of that gets diluted when you have a regional board.”

Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido, who has been a proponent of streetcar projects in the past, suggested Anaheim residents may not share the city council’s opposition to streetcars.

“I think in Santa Ana and Garden Grove and Anaheim and elsewhere…we have to continue to see where the residents are at,” Pulido said.

In an online poll by OCTA, which surveyed 413 people, respondents rated a streetcar 7.07 out of a top score of 10, followed by 6.6 for bus rapid transit and 6.1 for a limited stop bus.

Most respondents -- 64 percent -- said they worked near Harbor Boulevard, while 54 percent said they go dining along the corridor and 38 percent said they go shopping along Harbor.

Other stakeholders interviewed by OCTA said they generally support transit investment along Harbor, but need more information before stating any preferences.

]]>https://voiceofoc.org/2018/01/transportation-officials-debate-bus-or-streetcar-service-for-harbor-boulevard/feed/6Four County GOP Congressional Seats Targeted in 2018https://voiceofoc.org/2018/01/four-county-gop-congressional-seats-targeted-in-2018/
https://voiceofoc.org/2018/01/four-county-gop-congressional-seats-targeted-in-2018/#commentsMon, 08 Jan 2018 14:39:47 +0000https://voiceofoc.org/?p=449653Four Orange County Congressional Districts that pundits predict will be competitive races in November’s national election fight to control the House of Representatives have been flooded with 32 candidates as Democrats target the Republican-held seats and gear up for the June primary.

“It’s unbelievable, the record breaking numbers of candidates,” Orange County Democratic Party Chairwoman Fran Sdao said. “We typically have a hard time finding a Democrat to run, so this year we have the opposite problem.”

Democrats need to take at least 24 House seats throughout the country in order to win control. Currently, the House has 239 Republicans, 193 Democrats and three vacancies. The June 5 primary will narrow the Orange County field to the top two vote getters in each Congressional district, regardless of political party.

Real Clear Politics Senior Elections Analyst Sean Trende said the increasing Latino vote could help the Democrats this year, along with a general shift away from Republicans since the election of President Donald Trump.

“Part of it is the increasing Hispanic presence in Orange County and part of it is upper income whites, especially in the age of Trump, are drifting away from Republicans,” Trende said, adding that the voter shift is a national trend.

Real Clear Politics is a news website and aggregator which focuses on Federal policy, national elections and international news.

The historically Republican Orange County stronghold districts of the 36th, 45th, 48th and 49th all voted for Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in 2016 -- a complete turnaround from 2012, when all four districts voted for GOP Presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

It was the first time a Democrat won the county’s overall presidential vote in 80 years when the county backed Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt for president in 1936, the middle of the Great Depression.

But the flood of Democratic challengers in the county could hurt the party’s chance at winning the seats if the campaigns become aggressive and split the Democratic vote heading into the primaries, a problem which may linger into November, Trende said.

Still, it could be Trump’s job approval rating that might help Democrats win the House in 2018.

“With him (Trump) having his job approval 40 (percent) or below over his term, that typically causes the party in power to lose registration and support,” Trende said.

Meanwhile, Sdao said the Democrats’ registration numbers have been steadily rising.

“Here we are in Orange County, a Republican county and our voter registration numbers have surged in the last several years. We’re down to about a 3 percent difference between registered Republicans and Democrats,” Sdao said in a phone interview.

Voters opting for no political party make up nearly 25 percent of the county’s roughly 1.5 million registered voters, according to the county Registrar of Voters statistics updated in December.

Traditionally, no political party voters have tended to support Republicans.

Republican county chairman Fred Whitaker didn’t respond to several requests for an interview. The California GOP didn’t respond to interview requests either.

The Cook Report and Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball classify the coastal 48th and south county’s 49th districts as tossups, while the south-central 25th district is lean Republican, giving the GOP a slight edge in the upcoming vote.

Both the Cook Report and Crystal Ball listed the north Orange County 39th district as leaning Republican until Monday when Rep. Ed Royce (R-Fullerton) announced he wouldn’t seek re-election. After Royce's announcement, the Cook Report reclassified the district as "leaning Democrat" while the Crystal Ball labeled the district as a "toss up." Additionally, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Costa Mesa) is facing two Republican challengers for his 48th district seat.

The Cook Report and Crystal Ball are websites that regularly analyze presidential and competitive U.S. House and Senate races, along with Gubernatorial races. Both websites score competitive Congressional Districts based on potential voter leanings after analyzing the data of past elections.

According to the Crystal Ball, Republicans have 38 seats in competitive races nationally and 16 of those are toss-ups. The Cook Report says 48 Republican seats across the country will be competitive races, with 17 of those toss-up districts.

Since 2012, voter turnout during primaries generally is around 25 percent for each of the four Congressional districts, but voter participation in three districts climbed over 40 percent and the 48th district had over half of its registered voters turnout for the 2016 primaries. Presidential election years, like 2016, generally draw more voters than off years, like this year. The final day for candidates to file is March 9.

The no preference voters could be a wildcard in the races because their numbers average about 25 percent of each district.

“A lot of them are young people who are new voters that don’t want to pick,” Sdao said, adding the Democrats are reaching out to them.

“This is not just unique to Orange County. This is happening all over the country,” Sdao said of the surge in voter turnout.

A Voice of OC analysis of voter data and trends goes back to 2012, following the statewide Congressional redistricting. All campaign finance data, unless otherwise noted, was collected up to Sept. 30, the most recent available information from the Federal Election Commission.

The 49th District; Southern Orange County and Western San Diego County

HEALTHY CITY

Map of California State Congressional District 49.

Both the Cook Report and the CrystalBall consider the district a toss up. The district is home to nearly 400,000 registered voters, according to the February 2017 voter registration report from the California Secretary of State, the most recent available.

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Vista) of the 49th Congressional District was reelected in 2016 by less than one percentage point. The district touches the most southern cities in the county, including San Juan Capistrano, Dana Point and San Clemente. The 49th also stretches down the west side of San Diego county, ending before La Jolla.

According to the voter registration report, Republicans still hold the district at 37 percent, while Democrats are at 31 percent. The no preference voters hold the wildcard at 25 percent. Voter registration data shows an uptick in Democrats since 2012’s 28.57 percent, while Republicans dropped from 40 percent.

Like the other districts, 2016 saw a huge increase in voter turnout for the primary election in the 49th District. Just over 46 percent of voters turned out, compared to 29 percent in both 2014 and 2012.

The Democratic candidate, former Marine Corps Colonel Doug Applegate garnered 49.7 percent of the vote in 2016, while Issa received 50.3 percent.

As of the most recent reports, Issa had the most money, $852,000 remaining out of the $1.2 million he has raised. He’s followed by Democratic candidate Mike Levin who had $530,000 on hand out of the $918,000 he brought in. Applegate had $263,000 of the $545,000 he took in while Democratic challenger Paul Kerr had $229,000 left from the $504,000 he raised.

The 48th District; Coastal Orange County

HEALTHY CITY

Map of California State Congressional District 48.

Like the southernmost district, the 48th is classified as a tossup by both the Crystal Ball and the Cook Report. But unlike Issa’s extremely close race, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Costa Mesa) had no problem defeating his opponent in 2016, winning by a nearly 17 point margin.

The district spans the coastal cities of Orange County from Seal Beach to Laguna Niguel and stretches east into parts of Westminster and Garden Grove. It also includes Huntington Beach, Costa Mesa, Fountain Valley, Newport Beach, Aliso Viejo and Laguna Beach.

Although the district voted for Clinton in 2016, Republicans have 41 percent of the 406,000 registered voters. Democrats are clocking in at just under 30 percent, while no preference voters sit at 24 percent, according to the voter registration report.

In 2012 and 2014 the turnout for primaries in the district was 25 percent. However, in 2016 voter turnout was nearly 57 percent.

The 48th had the least amount of money coming into the candidates out of the four districts so far.

Rohrabacher led with $856,000 raised, while having $600,000 on hand. Democratic challenger Harley Rouda Jr. raised a little over $600,000 and had nearly $373,000 on hand while Democrat Hans Keirstead raised almost $470,000 and ended Septemberwith $302,000 on hand. Democratic challenger Omar Siddiqui raised $322,000 had $308,000 left.

Of the nine challengers for Rohrabacher’s House seat, five are Democrats, two are Republicans, one has no party affiliation and one is a Libertarian. Former Assemblyman Scott Baugh is one of the Republican challengers and raised only $139 through “other receipts” last year, but has nearly $550,000 left over from 2016. Baugh’s finance data reflects all of 2017.

The 39th District; Northern Orange County and parts of Los Angeles and San Bernardino Counties

HEALTHY CITY

Map of State Congressional District 39.

The 39th Congressional District was leaning Republican, making it a competitive race, according to the Cook Report and Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball. After Royce's retirement announcement Jan. 8, the Cook Report reclassified the district as "leaning Democrat" while the Crystal Ball labeled it a "toss up."

Royce easily beat Democratic candidate Brett Murdock in 2016 with a margin of nearly 15 points, continuing a trend of winning by wide margins since 2012.

The 39th district consists of the most northern portion of Orange County from parts of Buena Park, Placentia and Anaheim Hills and contains all of Yorba Linda, Brea, La Habra and Fullertonwhile reaching north to parts of neighboring Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties.

While the district spans three different counties and has 367,000 registered voters, the bulk of voters are in Orange County at 227,000, according to the voter registration report.

The Republicans hold a slight edge in the district with 36 percent of the electorate, followed by the Democrats at 34 percent. Democrats in the 39th district have experienced slow voter growth since 2012 when they had 32 percent, while Republicans show a decline from 40 percent the same year No preference voters make up nearly 26 percent of the district, up from 23 percent in 2012.

The 39th District also experienced a big turnout for the 2016 primaries with nearly 42 percent of the electorate voting. The 2014 off-year primary had far less participation with just under 20 percent of voters showing up to the polls and the 2012 presidential year had a slightly better turnout at 25 percent.

While there’s eight challengers for Royce’s seat, two have yet to raise any money. Royce had the biggest war chest by far with $3.4 million on hand and managed to raise $1.6 million in 2017. He spent over $1 million between last January and September.

Democratic Challenger Andy Thorburn had the biggest war chest of the challengers, having loaned himself $2 million. He still has $1.9 million on hand.

Mai-Khanh Tran, another Democratic candidate, raised over $600,000 last year and had just under $500,000 on hand.

Outside of one independent candidate and a no-party candidate, all challengers are Democrats.

The 45th District; Southeast Orange C0unty

HEALTHY CITY

Map of California State Congressional District 45.

According to the Crystal Ball and the Cook Report, the 45th district leans Republican. Like Rohrabacher, Rep. Mimi Walters (R-Irvine) enjoyed a landslide, 17-point win over her opponent in 2016. There are at least six Democratic challengers gunning for the Walter’s seat.

The district sits mostly on the southeast side of Orange County and includes Irvine, Mission Viejo, Rancho Santa Margarita, Laguna Hills and portions of Laguna Woods, Villa Park, Orange, Anaheim Hills and Tustin.

Like the other three districts, the Republicans hold the the largest share of the electorate at just under 40 percent, while Democrats hover at just over 30 percent of the 412,000 registered voters, according to the voter registration report. No preference voters account for 25 percent of the district.

The data shows a shift in voting attitudes and party affiliation could be happening in the 45th District. In 2012, Republicans made up nearly 45 percent of the electorate, while Democrats had just under 28 percent. The no preference voters were at just over 23 percent.

As with nearly every district in the state in 2016, the 45th district had a surge in voter participation for the primary election when 43 percent of the registered voters showed up in the polls. In 2014 the district had 23 percent of voters show up and 2012 had just over 25 percent.

Walters raised more than three times more than any of the candidates in the district with $1.5 million and had $1.4 million on hand as of September. She left Democratic challenger Katherine Porter far behind at $474,000 raised with $356,000 on hand. Two other Democratic challengers are on Porter’s heels: Brian Forde built up nearly $470,00, with $359,000 on hand and David Min managed to get $466,000 and had $319,000 on hand.

Spencer Custodio is a Voice of OC reporter who covers south Orange County and Fullerton. You can reach him at scustodio@voiceofoc.org.

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]]>https://voiceofoc.org/2018/01/four-county-gop-congressional-seats-targeted-in-2018/feed/7Garden Grove Syncs Traffic Signalshttps://voiceofoc.org/2017/12/garden-grove-syncs-traffic-signals/
https://voiceofoc.org/2017/12/garden-grove-syncs-traffic-signals/#commentsTue, 19 Dec 2017 13:47:11 +0000https://voiceofoc.org/?p=442851Day to day commutes might get a little easier for Garden Grove residents following a decision by city council members to adopt traffic light synchronization projects for Garden Grove Boulevard and Katella Street.

“With the traffic delay, also severed is the cost of business, the cost of potential people that can come and shop in Garden Grove,” said Mayor Pro Tem Phat Bui, “And therefore, I think there is a real strong (contingent) for intention-able benefits, 45 minutes each day, 365 days a year add up to a lot more than the city matching fund is.

”I just want to clarify this point to the public, I believe the benefit (of reducing traffic) in terms of financial would be tremendous for merchants in Garden Grove,” he added during the Nov. 28 city council meeting.

The Orange County Transportation Authority issued a call for projects to coordinate traffic signals across jurisdictional boundaries in the county funded under the Comprehensive Transportation Funding Programs. Two corridors, Garden Grove Boulevard and Katella Avenue, were identified as heavily traveled corridors that would benefit from traffic signal coordination.

Traffic signal coordination occurs when a group of two or more traffic signals are working together so cars moving through the group will make the least number of stops possible.

There will be no impact to the Garden Grove General Fund. Public Works will be funding the projects through Traffic Mitigation Fees and Measure M2 Local Fair Share according to Public Works Director Bill Murray.

This is just one transportation improvement Garden Grove has been making steadily since The West County Connectors project was completed in 2014. The project was a partnership between OCTA and Caltrans linking (HOV) lanes/carpool lanes on the San Diego Freeway (I-405) with those on the Garden Grove Freeway (SR-22) and San Gabriel River Freeway (I-605) to create a seamless carpool connection among the three freeways.

“Those streets have been compacted over the years, and that’s why these synchronization projects keep coming up, is as cities develop and there’s new destinations that are created, traffic patterns tend to change,” Murray said. “Also our freeway improvements or even construction works will have a significant impact on traffic patterns.”

New planning theory, coupled with consumer demand for public transit, has brought greater attention to how transportation planning decisions fit into the design of healthy communities. According to Murray, the transportation improvements and specifically, the traffic light synchronization, will have a positive impact on commuters and the city.

“It will move the vehicles along at an orderly pace and with the overlaying hope that they will spend less time stopped. When you reduce the amount of vehicle down-time in terms of being stopped at a signal, you save motorists in terms of gas and you also save them in terms of emissions, so you are not creating as much smog, theoretically,” he said.

The proposed Garden Grove Boulevard project spans approximately 8.6 miles and includes 34 traffic signals. It would begin at Valley View Street in Westminster and end at Bristol Street in Santa Ana. Garden Grove currently has jurisdiction of 20 traffic signals on Garden Grove Boulevard.

The proposed Katella Avenue project spans approximately 19.6 miles and includes 73 traffic signals. It would begin at the I-605 in Los Alamitos and end at Jamboree Street in Orange. Garden Grove currently has jurisdiction of two traffic signals on Katella Avenue.

The City of Garden Grove’s financial responsibility for the two projects is estimated at $464,972, covered by the Traffic Mitigation Fees and Measure M2 Local Fair Share, not the general budget.

“People get excited, you see those large figures,” said Council Member John R. O'Neill. “I just wanted to point out that 464 is not coming out of our general budget - the general plan I should say.”

Both projects will include the development and implementation of signal timing, traffic signal equipment upgrades, and two years of traffic signal timing maintenance. The projects are anticipated to begin September 2018.

Natalie van Winden is a student journalist at Chapman University participating in the Voice of OC Youth Media program.

]]>https://voiceofoc.org/2017/12/garden-grove-syncs-traffic-signals/feed/1City-Subsidized Hotel Resort in Garden Grove Moves Forwardhttps://voiceofoc.org/2017/12/city-subsidized-hotel-resort-in-garden-grove-moves-forward/
https://voiceofoc.org/2017/12/city-subsidized-hotel-resort-in-garden-grove-moves-forward/#commentsWed, 13 Dec 2017 14:41:30 +0000https://voiceofoc.org/?p=440871Plans for a 769-room, three hotel resort in Garden Grove will move forward after the City Council approved a development agreement that hands over a 5.18-acre property to the developer for $852,571 in fees.

The hotels, on Harbor Boulevard, are part of an overall strategy the city to benefit from its proximity to Disneyland, the Anaheim Convention Center and other tourist attractions.

The project, spearheaded by Land & Design and the American subsidiary of the Shanghai Construction Group, includes three different hotels with 39,867 square feet of conference and meeting room space, 36,885 square feet of entertainment/restaurant space, and a 1,297-space parking structure.

It comes with a package of subsidies as part of an agreement approved in April 2013. In addition to giving the site, known as Site C, to the developer, the city will pay up to $250,000 in improvements to the site and give the developer tax subsidies worth at least $17.6 million. The city’s former redevelopment agency paid $15.6 million for the Site C property on the corner of Harbor Boulevard and Twintree Lane.

The council voted 6-0 on Dec. 6, with councilman Phat Bui absent, to approve the latest development agreement.

The vote was to set a five-year deadline for the developer to complete construction of the project. Details of the project itself were largely approved in previous agreements.

Residents who spoke at the special meeting Dec. 6 voiced a mixture of support and skepticism of the hotel project.

“I want to express my support and downright excitement for this project. It’s been a long time coming,” said Maureen Blackmun. “I look forward to the revenue and potential notoriety this will bring to the city.”

A handful of employees of the Hyatt Regency, which was purchased by the Shanghai Construction Group America in 2015, also spoke in support of the project.

Meanwhile representatives of the hotel workers’ union, UNITE HERE Local 11, asked the city to delay voting on the agreement.

“The developer is receiving significant subsidies without commensurate public benefit,” said Danielle Wilson, a research analyst and organizer for the union.

Walter Muneton, a board trustee from the Garden Grove Unified School District, called on the council to establish a project labor agreement to ensure the use of union labor or other terms that would guarantee jobs to Garden Grove residents.

Major Tax Subsidies

The hotels, restaurants and entertainment venues within the resort will benefit from tax rebates for 10 to 20 years, meaning a certain percentage of the annual taxes that they generate will be returned to the developer.

For example, the resort’s main upscale hotel will receive a 20-year rebate of 60 percent of hotel bed taxes and half of all sales taxes it generates.

Any subsequent hotels built on the property would receive a 10-year rebate of half of all hotel bed taxes and half of all sales taxes.

Restaurants and entertainment venues built on the resort would also benefit from a 50 percent sales tax rebate.

The city estimates that the project will bring in $3.8 to $4.9 million in annual tax revenue a year.

Major subsidies to entice hotel development are not new to Garden Grove.

The city has poured $100 million in public funds into the Great Wolf Resorts Water Park Hotel, including the $20.8 million cost of acquiring and preparing the 10.3 acre property for development, then transferring it to the developer at no cost.

The developer also received a $47 million lump sum from city redevelopment funds. Interest payments on the bonds financing that lump sum add another $23 million in costs.

The Great Wolf and other hotel developments are part of the city’s overall strategy of capitalizing on its proximity to the Anaheim Resort, which includes Disneyland, the Anaheim Convention Center and other attractions. The goal is to transform Harbor Boulevard in Garden Grove into an extension of the Anaheim Resort -- sometimes marketed as “Anaheim West.”

Hotel bed taxes make up a quarter of the city’s total $100 million budget.

“Twenty-five percent of our top-line revenue comes from hotel taxes. It’s been an enormous windfall for this city,” said Mayor Steve Jones. “It’s been a hugely successful economic engine.”

Councilmembers all were supportive of the project.

“There’s going to be union jobs on this and non-union jobs. It may be true that there’s no guarantees but I’ve been assured there’s room for everybody on this project,” said Councilman John O’Neill.

Councilwoman Kim Nguyen said she was “very excited about the project” and was disappointed that residents critical of the project had not contacted her.

She also criticized tactics used by UNITE-HERE Local 11, which sent flyers to residents featuring a hammer and a sickle.

“Did you know that $17.6 million of your tax dollars are supporting the development of three hotels by the Shanghai Construction Group, a company that is 60% owned by the Chinese Communist Party-dominated Shanghai Municipal State-Owned Assets Commission?” read one flyer posted by a resident on Facebook.

Nguyen said it was “deplorable and disgraceful” for the union to use the Vietnamese community’s experiences with a communist government to “instill fear” and “spread misinformation.”

“It's not a joke, it’s not funny, and I don’t like that it was used,” Nguyen said.

]]>https://voiceofoc.org/2017/12/city-subsidized-hotel-resort-in-garden-grove-moves-forward/feed/4OCTA Considers Faster Bus Service or Streetcar for Heavily-Used North and Central County Routeshttps://voiceofoc.org/2017/11/octa-considers-faster-bus-service-or-streetcar-for-heavily-used-north-and-central-county-routes/
https://voiceofoc.org/2017/11/octa-considers-faster-bus-service-or-streetcar-for-heavily-used-north-and-central-county-routes/#commentsMon, 20 Nov 2017 14:31:11 +0000https://voiceofoc.org/?p=430513The Orange County Transportation Authority’s (OCTA) plans for the future could give public transportation in the county’s north and central areas a boost, including the possibility of two streetcar routes along north Harbor Boulevard and Westminster Avenue.

As part of the agency’s plan for the public transportation system over the next few decades, known as the Transit Master Plan, OCTA has identified 11 heavily-used corridors that are candidates for faster bus service or a new light rail line.

Click to view a larger map of the OCTA routes being considered for major improvements.

Two of those corridors – north Harbor Boulevard between Fullerton and Garden Grove, as well as a 17th Street/Westminster Avenue route that would connect Westminster to the University of California, Irvine – are being recommended by staff as contenders for a potential streetcar line or rapid bus service.

One type of bus service that could be introduced along the 11 corridors is known by planners as Bus Rapid Transit (BRT). Its features include a dedicated bus lane, high frequency service, and allowing passengers to buy tickets before they board the bus to cut down on wait times.

Bus Rapid Transit often is hailed as a transit option that’s faster than traditional bus service with some of the features of light rail, but without the expensive infrastructure.

Another possibility is what OCTA calls rapid bus, which has some but not all of the features of bus rapid transit. Rapid bus, at the least, usually has fewer stops along the route, meaning the bus travels further between stops.

The Transit Master Plan calls for seven improved bus lines along South Harbor Boulevard; State College/Bristol Street; Beach Boulevard; Main Street between Orange and Santa Ana; Chapman Ave., La Palma/Lincoln; and Bolsa/McFadden Ave. Full maps of each route are available in the full report.

OCTA already runs express buses with limited stops along two of the county’s busiest routes, known as the Bravo! Service. One Bravo! line runs down Harbor Boulevard from Fullerton to Costa Mesa, and another runs from Long Beach to Santa Ana.

The Transit Master Plan also is calling for two freeway-based Bus Rapid Transit lines. One route would take the I-5 freeway from the Fullerton Park-and-Ride to the Mission Viejo/Laguna Niguel station and the second would take the SR-55 freeway from the Santa Ana Regional Transportation Center to Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach.

Opposition to a Streetcar

The Fullerton-to-Garden Grove streetcar option along Harbor Boulevard rankled board member Tom Tait, the mayor of Anaheim, who led a 6-1 vote in January by the Anaheim City Council to oppose any plans for a streetcar down Harbor Boulevard.

Tait opposed a previous proposal in Anaheim for a 3.2 mile, $300 million streetcar between the city’s transit hub, ARTIC, and its resort district, arguing the project is needlessly expensive, would worsen congestion, and that the money would be better spent investing in the current bus system.

The proposed route of the Harbor streetcar/bus rapid transit line. Click to enlarge.

“We make choices – we can’t do everything,” Tait said. “So we could connect to Los Angeles, or connect to the airport, or we could put a massive amount of money into a streetcar system that has dubious numbers.”

The county transportation agency already is conducting a study of Harbor Boulevard, which is likely to include discussion of a streetcar, and is expected to come before the board in December.

The proposed route of the 17th Street/Westminster streetcar or bus rapid transit line connects Westminster to UC Irvine. Click to enlarge.

Tait suggested the board wait for that study before voting on the proposal, which the board rejected.

Board director and Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido said the OCTA board should fully study the streetcar and other options before making any decisions.

“We can always walk away, but if we walk away before we look at the numbers I think we’re not doing our job as good stewards,” Pulido said.

CEO Darrell Johnson said the Transit Master Plan still is a draft.

“There’s a long way between this discussion and a potential project,” said Johnson.

Before the board would make any decisions about what modes to use along any of the 11 routes, the agency would need to conduct additional studies of each corridor, he said.

“There is no recommendation here from staff but the only thing I would say about the Harbor, Westminster corridors is traditional bus has reached its limit,” Johnson said. “On Harbor, 10, 12 thousand people [are] getting on the bus. Putting more traditional bus, we don’t think, gets to that next level.”

Director Shawn Nelson, who sits on the county’s Board of Supervisors, said the Transit Master Plan should consider using the old Pacific Electric Railroad right-of-way to connect to Los Angeles.

“Us doing things one-off and on our own is not a great idea. I think the smart approach is to tie into the vast network that LA has already put a lot of investment in,” Nelson said. “[That] might be a great way to troll for some dough from the federal government.”

Several directors also raised concerns about the lack of proposed improvements in south Orange County, where OCTA already has been cutting traditional bus service due to low ridership.

Johnson said the Transit Master Plan is not a good reflection of all of the agency’s recent efforts to improve bus service in south OC, such as plans for small shuttles that travel to major destinations along a circular route.

“I think not every community needs a 40-foot bus, or a streetcar, or bus rapid transit,” Johnson said. “We want to find a solution for your community and every community is different.”

The proposal would include an “inter-generational” partnership with the Boys & Girls Club where seniors would mentor, volunteer and interact with youth from the Boys & Girls Club, said developer Alexis Gevorgian, a managing member of the firm AMG & Associates.

“Studies show seniors live longer when they are associated with youth,” said Gevorgian.

The project would build on the existing steel frame, and includes 25,503 square feet of community rooms and recreational space and 12,938 square feet of retail on the first floor. It requires 310 parking stalls.

This latest proposal for the Galleria project, which is requesting an increase in density from the original 66 luxury condominiums planned for the site, will be right across the street from the city’s largest mixed-use development, the Brookhurst Triangle project. That development includes 674 units of mid- to high-end apartments, 272,000 square feet of open space and 65,000 square feet of commercial space.

The original plans for the Garden Grove Galleria project stalled in 2009 when the bank financing the project refused to pay the developer’s construction costs, citing a decline in the property’s value during the economic downturn.

Since then the building’s steel skeleton has sat unused and undeveloped, irritating residents and prompting calls from some city council members to act on a 2013 order to demolish it.

Efforts to revive the site have been mired in lawsuits over the original project and both the bank, Cathay Bank, and property owner, the Emlen W. Hoag Foundation, have tried for several years to find a new developer to take over the project and avoid a demolition order.

Then in August 2016, Cathay Bank sold its interests in the property to AMG & Associates, ending the legal battle and allowing the project to move forward.

Gevorgian estimates the project will appear before the city’s Planning Commission in the next 45 days. And there’s urgency, he said, because a federal tax credit the project is relying on will expire in February. The company will need to secure all entitlements to the property before then.

If the project is approved by the Planning Commission and City Council, Gevorgian hopes the company will be able to break ground within six months.

The additional 400 units would make a modest dent in the city’s long waiting list for affordable housing and rental assistance.

There are roughly 15,000 people on the city’s waiting list for Section 8 federal housing assistance, according to Deputy City Manager Maria Stipe. The list receives between 100 and 200 new applicants a year, and in the first nine months of 2017, just 17 people were given housing assistance, said Stipe.

In August, the city celebrated the grand opening of Wesley Village, a multigenerational housing project by Jamboree Housing, which includes a senior living and adult day care facility as well as a Head Start preschool center. The 47-unit development, which sits on property owned by the Garden Grove United Methodist Church, includes 31 family units and 16 units for senior citizens.

Contact Thy Vo at tvo@voiceofoc.org or 415-484-9286. Follow her on twitter @thyanhvo.

]]>https://voiceofoc.org/2017/10/the-latest-proposal-for-garden-groves-rusty-skeleton-affordable-senior-housing/feed/13Santa Ana, Garden Grove Open Talks Over Willowick Golf Coursehttps://voiceofoc.org/2017/09/santa-ana-garden-grove-open-talks-over-willowick-golf-course/
https://voiceofoc.org/2017/09/santa-ana-garden-grove-open-talks-over-willowick-golf-course/#commentsFri, 29 Sep 2017 12:51:48 +0000https://voiceofoc.org/?p=410567Santa Ana and Garden Grove will begin talks about the possible redevelopment of the 102.1-acre Willowick Golf Course, after both city councils voted to approve a memorandum of understanding and hold a joint study session about uses for the property.

For years officials, without success, have floated various plans for the golf course, which is owned by the city of Garden Grove but located in Santa Ana.

In 2015, Santa Ana city officials discussed purchasing the property and converting it into a large public park, as an antidote to the city’s lack of park space.

Now with a ground lease for the operation of the golf course expiring in 2019, and construction of the Orange County Streetcar expected to be complete in 2020, officials are approaching the discussions with some added urgency.

The golf course is near the Garden Grove-Santa Ana border, next to the Santa Ana River and east of Harbor Boulevard.

The 4.15 mile route of the OC Streetcar begins at the Santa Ana Metrolink train station, runs through downtown Santa Ana and ends at Harbor Boulevard and Westminster Avenue in Garden Grove. The route runs along a section of the former Pacific Electric railroad, which could connect Willowick Golf Course to the main streetcar route.

Revenues to the city from the golf course have generally declined over the past decade. The golf course brought in $435,000 in the 2014-15 fiscal year compared to $650,000 in 2007-2008, according to city budgets.

The one-page memorandum of understanding between the two cities provides few details, but requires the two cities to hold a joint study session where they will discuss next steps.

Santa Ana City Council members approved the agreement at their Sept. 17 meeting, followed by the Garden Grove City Council at their Sept. 26 meeting.

Asked whether selling the property to Santa Ana for a park is on the table, Garden Grove Mayor Steve Jones said, “probably not realistically.”

Although Garden Grove has not done an appraisal of the site, in 2015 the city finance director told the Orange County Register that the property is worth at least $200 million, at $2 million per acre.

Jones said both cities should “resist the temptation” to try to decide how the golf course should be developed.

“I would really like to hear from the private market what they envision is feasible and what would work there,” Jones said. “I think all too often cities try to define their vision for the site and they artificially create a lot of limitations for it.”

Contact Thy Vo at tvo@voiceofoc.org or 415-484-9286. Follow her on twitter @thyanhvo.

]]>https://voiceofoc.org/2017/09/santa-ana-garden-grove-open-talks-over-willowick-golf-course/feed/11Will Parking Determine the Future of Garden Grove’s Main Street?https://voiceofoc.org/2017/03/will-parking-determine-the-future-of-garden-groves-main-street/
https://voiceofoc.org/2017/03/will-parking-determine-the-future-of-garden-groves-main-street/#commentsTue, 21 Mar 2017 12:32:13 +0000https://voiceofoc.org/?p=302628A nearly decade-old battle between Garden Grove’s Main Street business owners, the city and developer Steve Sheldon over a 1.6-acre downtown parking lot may come to a head this year, as an August deadline approaches to determine how the land will be used.

Today it's a quiet drive of restaurants, office space and empty storefronts, but Main Street was the center of the city’s bustling business district long before Garden Grove incorporated in 1956. It still is fiercely guarded by some residents as a central part of the city’s history.

Since 2006, Sheldon has floated two plans to build housing on the parking lot, the last large public lot in the area. Both plans were vehemently opposed by downtown business owners who say losing control over the lot would destroy business on an already ailing street.

Now the city’s Housing Authority, which purchased the property in 2012 for $2.3 million – is coming up on a five-year deadline to either sell the lot or dedicate it to affordable housing. Neither choice appeals to Main Street business owners.

Main Street has struggled for the past decade to attract new customers, and the parking lot is rarely full.

A petition circulated by city commissioner Josh McIntosh, called “Main Street’s Parking Belongs to Main Street!” has drawn 323 signatures so far.

“It is time for the city to either reinstate the Main Street Parking Commission or to give the parking lot to the Main Street Commission,” McIntosh said. “If people have nowhere to park, they will not come to Main Street.”

A Long Battle

The battle over the 161-space public lot started in February 2006, when the City Council approved an exclusive negotiating agreement for Sheldon to pitch a development proposal within six months. That rankled the Main Street Commission and Parking District, citizen boards which were not consulted before the agreement was approved.

Sheldon’s proposal for a five-story, 100-unit condominium complex was put on hold again, however, when the market tanked in 2008 during the Great Recession.

Rankling business owners further was a 2009 decision by the city to dissolve the parking district altogether, which business owners saw as retaliation for their lawsuit.

The city’s redevelopment agency eventually purchased the property in 2011 for $2.3 million, and transferred ownership of the property to its Housing Authority in 2012 as part of Governor Jerry Brown’s decision to end the use of redevelopment agencies.

After redevelopment ended, cities were required to, within five years of the date of acquisition of a property, sell the property on the open market or dedicate the land to low-or moderate-income housing.

Sheldon, who says he's still interested in the property, has maintained throughout that his project would provide over 100 parking spaces for public use, for both guests of the new housing units and people visiting Main Street.

He and city officials also argued in the past that the housing development would help inject new life to the street by adding an influx of customers.

"Quality housing would be a catalyst to help activate Main Street but it must maintain the necessary parking," said Sheldon in an email. "We would collaborate with the businesses to develop a master parking plan to ensure there is ample parking for their customers and allow for new development."

At least a few residents agree.

Tommy Donovan, the grandson of former Mayor Walter Donovan, said while he thinks it is important to preserve Main Street and other historic landmarks, that process has been dominated by a small group of people.

“The efforts of preserving Main Street has been strong and vibrant, but I also feel that for the surrounding area, progress is to move forward for what benefits the residents of Garden Grove as a whole,” said Donovan.

The area around Main Street is likely to change significantly over the next several years.

Developer Shaheen Sadeghi, who has spearheaded successful commercial projects like the hipster shopping complex The Lab in Costa Mesa and the Packing House food hall in Anaheim, has plans to convert homes near City Hall into restaurants, apartments and retail space.

The city is also preparing to solicit bids for a parking study of the entire downtown area.

Members of the Main Street Commission have also asked staff to explore options for sharing parking lots with nearby businesses, such as Coastline Community College, which is right next door.

Economic Development Director, Lisa Kim, said staff will update the City Council on the property in the near future.

“Our goal is to work with our community and the Main Street businesses for revitalization,” said Kim. “We recognize that parking is instrumental in that. It goes hand in hand.”

Scott Weimer, treasurer for the Downtown Business Association, says business owners are gearing up to keep fighting for their parking lot, and for Main Street's future success.

“This is going to be the last knife in the back of Main Street,” said Weimer.